1913 Houghton-le-Spring by-election

UK parliamentary by-election April 2022 June 2025 The 1913 Houghton-le-Spring by-election was a Parliamentary by-election held on 18 March 1913.Craig F.W.S. 1987 Chronology of British Parliamentary By-elections 1833–1987 Chichester Parliamentary Research Services 108 The constituency returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system. Vacancy Robert Cameron had been Liberal MP for Houghton-le-Spring since 1895. He died on 13 February 1913. Previous contested result Cameron was elected unopposed in December 1910, however, he was opposed at the election before. General election January 1910 Electorate 17,504 Liberal Party (UK) Robert Cameron 10,393 70.3 -1.9 Conservative Party (UK) Hugh Sidney Streatfield 4,382 29.7 +1.9 6,011 40.6 -3.8 14,775 84.4 +1.2 Liberal Party (UK) -1.9 Candidates The Liberals chose a Grimsby man, Tom Wing to defend the seat. He was elected at the January 1910 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Grimsby, but lost that seat at the general election in December 1910. The Unionists selected local barrister, Thomas Richardson as their candidate. His father had been Liberal MP for Hartlepool. Labour intervened with an Independent Labour Party member, William House, who was sponsored by the Durham Miners' Association, for whom he had been President since 1900. House stood for the Labour Party in Bishop Auckland at the January and December 1910 general elections. Campaign In the recent past, there had been a good working relationship between the local miners and the local Liberal Association to the point that by 1913, miners still dominated the local Liberal association. Every miners lodge in the constituency was represented at Wing's selection meeting. During the campaign, many miners lodge officials spoke on platforms in support of Wing.Political Change and the Labour Party 1900-1918 by Duncan Tanner This came as something of a slap in the face to both the Independent Labour Party and the Durham Miners Association who had hoped that the local miners would support their candidate, House. This split in the local miners lodges was good news for the Unionist campaign. They knew that their only hoping of winning was if the Labour candidate took half or the Liberal vote, allowing the Unionists the chance to come through the middle. Result The Liberal Party held the seat with a significantly reduced majority. thumb|120px|Tom Wing Houghton-le-Spring by-election, 1913 Liberal Party (UK) Thomas Wing 6,930 43.6 -26.7 Unionist Party (UK) Thomas Richardson 4,807 30.2 +0.5 Labour Party (UK) William House 4,165 26.2 +26.2 2,123 13.4 -27.2 15,902 83.6 -0.8 Liberal Party (UK) -13.6 Aftermath A General Election was due to take place by the end of 1915. By the autumn of 1914, the following candidates had been adopted to contest that election. Due to the outbreak of war, the election never took place. House's parliamentary interests moved on to the Mid Durham constituency, while Richardson never stood again. General Election 1914/15: Houghton-le-Spring Electorate 19,722 Liberal Party (UK) Thomas Wing Labour Party (UK) W. P. Richardson Unionist Party (UK) At the eleventh hour, the Labour Party replaced W. P. Richardson as candidate with another local miner Robert Richardson General election 14 December 1918: Houghton-le-Spring Electorate 32,552 Labour Party (UK) Robert Richardson 7,315 36.3 N/A Liberal Party (UK) Thomas Wing 6,626 32.9 N/A National Democratic and Labour Party *John Lindsley 6,185 30.8 New 689 3.4 N/A 20,126 61.8 N/A Labour Party (UK) Liberal Party (UK) N/A Lindsley was the endorsed candidate of the Coalition Government. References Craig, F. W. S. (1974). British parliamentary election results 1885-1918 (1 ed.). London: Macmillan. Debrett's House of Commons 1916 Category:1913 elections in the United Kingdom Category:1913 in England Houghton-le-Spring Category:20th century in County Durham Category:March 1913 in the United Kingdom